Elena Rodica Opran

Dr. Elena Rodica Opran


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

2Years (2025-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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17 December 2025 in Sustainability
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
RPRamona Pirvu
Ramona Pirvu
CPCerasela Adriana Luciana Pirvu
Cerasela Adriana Luciana Pirvu
Raducu Stefan BratuRaducu Stefan Bratu
Raducu Stefan Bratu
RCRiana Maria Ciobanu
Riana Maria Ciobanu
EOElena Rodica Opran
Elena Rodica Opran
DLDragoș-Ionuț Lupșoiu
Dragoș-Ionuț Lupșoiu
The persistent shortage of ICT specialists across the European Union has intensified the strategic relevance of digital human capital as a determinant of labour market resilience and structural competitiveness. This study provides a systematic assessment of how ICT human capital—proxied by ICT tertiary enrolments, graduate output, and specialist employment—shapes the employment prospects of recent tertiary graduates in the EU-27 between 2013 and 2023. Drawing on harmonised Eurostat panel data and fixed-effects estimations with robust corrections for cross-sectional dependence, the analysis disentangles both direct effects and context-specific moderations associated with economic development, urbanisation patterns, and renewable energy penetration. Results demonstrate that ICT enrolments exert a consistently positive influence on graduate employability, whereas the labour market impact of ICT graduates and specialists is heterogeneous, reflecting differentiated absorptive capacities and sectoral saturation dynamics across Member States. Interaction effects further reveal that the urban concentration attenuates marginal returns to ICT education, while the integration of digital and green transitions remains institutionally underdeveloped. Collectively, the findings position digital tertiary education as a core pillar of sustainable employment formation yet highlight the necessity of coordinated policy architectures that align higher education pathways with regional labour market structures and the evolving green-digital policy agenda in Europe.